Improvement in respirators



KPETERS, PHOTO-LIYNOGRAPMER, WASHINGTON. I?. C.

THEODORE A. IHOIFMANN, OF BEARDSTOWN, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT I'N REsPi RATORS.

Specification forming pait of Letters PatentNo. 58,255, dated September 25, 1866.

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, Tnnononn A. Horr- MANN, of Beardstown, Cass county, State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful linprovement in Respirators; and I do'hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, tormingpart of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a respirator made according to'my invention, showing also how it is applied and worn. Fig. 2 is a cross-section thereof.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

The object of this invention is to provide a convenient and economical apparatus or arti` cle for filtering the air which is inhaled in breathing. The apparatus is worn on the nose and mouth, and, without checking theaccess of air to the lungs in an inconvenient degree, arrests dust and foreign matters oating in the air, and protects the respiratory organs from the inliuence ot' malarious and contagious elements which may be found in the` atmosphere. The apparatus willbe of great advantage to those who are affected by diseases of the lungs or throat.

If a person stands in a dark place or room, and the rays of the sun enter into the same through a small opening, he will observe in the beams of the light falling through the opening a vast amount of small particles in diiferent shapes and forms moving in the air, although these fine particles are carriers of miasma and malaria, when such are in existenccin the surroundin gair. Thisairis brought into contact with the lungs by process of respiration. When the ,atmosphere is pure and a person is in a healthy state, the inhalation of those particles may not develop much effect on the respiratory organs. Still, when the respiratory organs are in a diseased state the inhalation of these particles is of a very important character on the diseased parts.

The apparatus which is here shown, and which illustrates my invention, is made of two layers of gauze, made of cotton or other textile fabric, of a convenient shape to envelop the mouth and nostrils, inclosing between them a lining of loose cotton or cotton wadding or batting, or other loose textile material of the thickness of onefourth of an inch, more or less: The edges of the gauze are bound with shirred elastic braid, or its equivalent, to make `an elastic border; or they may be bound `with ribbon or tape, which shall inclose also an elastic cord or strand, so that the apA paratus may be stretched over the mouth and nostrils, and by the contraction of the elastic border be made to embrace them close enough to prevent the entrance of air between the edges and border of the apparatus and face.

By this means I am able to provide a person that lives in an unhealthy atmosphere, or one who is compelled for a time to work in or pass through air filled with dust and foreign matter, with a means of filtering the air and pnrifyin git before it is admitted to the lungs.

The application of this invention will suggest itself in the various circumstances and occupationswhere it will be valuable. It will be valuable to persons living in infected districts, to laborers and artisans who are compelled by their calling to work in places more or less filled with dust--such, for instance, as :tx-grinders, workers in fur and wool, in factories, and also to those engaged in the work of sweeping, also to those who are suddenly exposed to cold air.

The purifying` action of cotton as a filter is thought to be very great. y

It is an established fact, and proved by the experiments of Prof. H. Schroeder, Dr. Th. V. Dusch, in 1854, also Th. Solmann, Ure, Helmholtz, and others, that when atmospheric air is filtered through cotton the effect on sub stances about to undergo fermentation, decay, or putrefaction, is different from that when air has free action on the same. For instance, it' a decoction of lean meat be divided and poured in two vessels, the one left to the free access of air, the other vessel closed and communica tion with the air allowed only through a glass tube filled partly with loose fibers, as of cotton, the decoction in the open vesselwill show signs of putrefaction within a few days, while that with a cotton iilter will keep in good state several weeks. Similar results are obtained by the exposure of saccharine liquids or infu sions of malt. Fermentation is checked by the cotton. Rigaud de LIsle, on the other side, in his treatise on the Poutine marshes, explained the iniuence of a forest as purifying the malarious air.

I make use in my invention of this valuable property of cotton and other fibrous materials in a loose, open, and porous state.

The letter A designates the apparatus. The gauze is shown at B. Being made of textile material it readily conforms to the features. C is the inclosed loose cotton. F is a covering which binds the edges of the apparatus,inclosing within it an elastic strand, E. The apparatus is held to the face by an elas- 'tic band, D, whichgoes around the back of the head.

The respirator can be cleaned by pouring soap-suds of a temperature of 1600 (FahrenA heit) of heat (more or less) over the same, dipping it into the suds, and rinsing it with `or platinized coal.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The gauze B', inclosed cotton C, covering F, and elastic strand E, combined and provided with the elastic strap D, and operating substantially asdescribed, for the purpose specified.

THEODORE A. HOFFMANN.

Witnesses:

L. F. SANDERS, Jas. MCGLURE. 

